Subscribe to RSSWhat Do You Do With Drunk Motorists Like This Woman?
Wellington police are shocked at a motorway driver who had “blatant disregard for other motorists” on the Wellington motorway, which she drove on after consuming “excessive amounts of alcohol or drugs,” putting herself and other motorists at great risk.
Other motorists managed to halt her before the police arrived.
The car first attracted attention after being seen colliding with a concrete barrier on the Aotea onramp before reversing slightly and continuing onto the motorway.
It continually weaved across three lanes of motorway traffic and collided several times with median barriers and side railings through Ngauranga Gorge.
Police Highway Patrol Senior Constable Bruce Pauling praised several members of the public for managing to “contain” the vehicle and 43 year old driver when she stopped suddenly north of Johnsonville.
“The outstanding actions of the public prevented this person from continuing to drive and likely causing a senseless fatality.”
Police in Wellington are awaiting blood test results taken under the newly introduced Compulsory Impairment Test
4 Comments
What do we do..? Take away her licence for life and get her treatment…
I look forward to the future of cars where it can tell if we were drunk and won’t move an inch. That’s the only solution to these problem people. As for this particular woman, she needs to be rehabilitated from her terrible drug addiction. But then, so do many many thousands of people.
Only works for repeat offenders, though - we are far off from funding (or having a government even think about requiring) breath testers in every car.
I think we need more enforcement. NZ, in my mind, is far too willing to go for education instead of enforcement. If you crack down hard and consistently (i.e. over a long time, years and years, not just a few stings a year), eventually disobeying the road rules becomes a social faux pas, rather than something everybody just shrugs about.
At the moment, doing things like trying to avoid speed radars is seen as “beating the man”, rather than enabling you to kill more people, more efficiently.
Later versions of the story appear to suggest that this is a drug (P hinted at) rather than alchol incident. Apparently, she passed the alchol screening test. DomPost reported a P-Pipe being found in the car.
SO, not sure if an alchol ignition interlock would have helped in this case.